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Abducted Libya political activist released: media

Abducted Libya political activist released: media
Libyan political activist Al-Moatassim Al-Areebi (right) who was abducted by an unknown armed group in western Libya has been released a day after the UN said it was “deeply concerned” over his abduction. (X/@TessourouA)
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Updated 11 July 2024
AFP
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Abducted Libya political activist released: media

Abducted Libya political activist released: media
  • Al-Moatassim Al-Areebi, 29, was released a day after the United Nations said it was “deeply concerned” over his abduction
  • Photos shared on social media on Thursday showed the activist walking in the streets of Misrata
Updated 11 July 2024
AFP
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TRIPOLI: A Libyan political activist who was abducted by an unknown armed group in western Libya has been released, local media reported Thursday.
Al-Moatassim Al-Areebi, 29, was released a day after the United Nations said it was “deeply concerned” over his abduction.
“Unidentified men released activist Al-Moatassim Al-Areebi, detained since last Monday in Misrata,” about 190 kilometers (120 miles) east of the capital Tripoli, the Al-Wasat TV channel said.
Areebi was released after “calls from the UN mission in Libya and the embassies of France and the United States,” as well as a large online campaign demanding his release, the channel added.
Photos shared on social media on Thursday showed the activist walking in the streets of Misrata.
The armed men who abducted him earlier in the week have not been identified, and media did not report any reasons for his abduction and release.
The UN mission on Wednesday called on “law enforcement agencies to urgently investigate the abduction of Mr. Al-Areebi, disclose his whereabouts, and secure his safe and immediate release.”
It also called for “the immediate and unconditional release of all arbitrarily detained individuals” in the conflict-plagued country.
It said it has “documented cases of at least 60 individuals currently detained across the country for their actual or perceived political affiliation.”
“Reports of arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, ill-treatment, torture, and deaths in custody committed with impunity continue to plague Libya,” it added.
Kidnappings are not uncommon in the restive North African country, including in May, when an elected member of Libya’s eastern-based House of Representatives was abducted in the city of Benghazi.
In 2019, Siham Sergewa, another representative, was abducted in Benghazi and remains missing.
Libya has been wracked by division and unrest since the 2011 NATO-backed overthrow of former dictator Muammar Qaddafi.
It is currently divided between two rival administrations based in Tripoli and Benghazi.

Topics: Libya Al-Moatassim Al-Areebi UN

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Slain Hamas chief Haniyeh to be buried in Qatar

Slain Hamas chief Haniyeh to be buried in Qatar
Updated 4 sec ago
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Slain Hamas chief Haniyeh to be buried in Qatar

Slain Hamas chief Haniyeh to be buried in Qatar
Updated 4 sec ago
DOHA: Qatar on Friday is due to hold funeral ceremonies for Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh after his killing in Tehran, an attack blamed on Israel that has deepened fears of a regional escalation.
Haniyeh, the Palestinian armed group’s political chief, had resided in Doha along with other members of the Hamas political office.
He will be buried at a cemetery in Lusail, north of the Qatari capital, following funeral prayers at the Imam Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab mosque, the gas-rich emirate’s largest.
His killing sparked calls for revenge and is among several incidents that have inflamed regional tensions during the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas which has drawn in Iran-backed militant groups in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.
Hamas has said that “Arab and Islamic leaders” as well as representatives of other Palestinian factions and members of the public would attend the events.
Haniyeh and a bodyguard were killed in the pre-dawn attack on their accommodation in Tehran early on Wednesday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said.
He had traveled to Iran to attend Tuesday’s swearing-in of President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Israel, accused by Hamas, Iran and others of the attack, has not directly commented on it.
The Hamas leader’s assassination came just hours after Israel struck a southern suburb of Beirut, killing Fuad Shukr, the military commander of Hamas-allied Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
In Tehran on Thursday, crowds of mourners paid their respects during a public funeral ceremony for Haniyeh.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led the prayers, having earlier threatened “harsh punishment” for his killing.


Turkiye and Pakistan announced a day of mourning on Friday in honor of Haniyeh, while Hamas has called for a “day of furious rage” to coincide with the burial.
The Palestinian group encouraged “roaring anger marches... from every mosque” following Friday prayers to protest Haniyeh’s killing as well as the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas in retaliation for its October 7 attack on Israel that ignited the war in Gaza.
That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Militants also seized 251 hostages, 111 of whom are still held captive in Gaza, including 39 the military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign against Hamas has killed at least 39,480 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.


Haniyeh’s coffin arrived in Doha on Thursday afternoon, Qatar-based network Al Jazeera reported, broadcasting images of a convoy including internal security force vehicles traveling down Doha’s shore-hugging corniche road.
Qatar has hosted Hamas’s political bureau with the blessing of the United States since 2012 following the Palestinian militant group’s closure of its office in Damascus.
Haniyeh had played a key role in talks for a potential truce in Gaza, liaising with mediators Qatar, which has led months of behind-the-scenes negotiations alongside Egypt and the United States.
US President Joe Biden said late on Thursday that he was “very concerned” about rising tensions in the region and added that the killing of Haniyeh had “not helped” the situation.
The White House said Biden spoke with Netanyahu by telephone on Thursday, promising to defend Israel’s security “against all threats from Iran.”
“We have the basis for a ceasefire. He should move on it and they should move on it now,” Biden told reporters after the call.
Reacting to Haniyeh’s death, Qatar’s prime minister said the killing had thrown the Gaza war mediation process into doubt.
“How can mediation succeed when one party assassinates the negotiator on the other side?” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on social media site X.
The international community called for calm and a focus on securing a ceasefire in Gaza — which Haniyeh had accused Israel of obstructing.
Israel warned its adversaries on Thursday that they would “pay a very high price” for any “aggression.”
“Israel is at a very high level of preparation for any scenario, both defensive and offensive,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
“Those who attack us, we will attack in return.”

Australia says Israel did not deliberately kill foreign aid workers in Gaza

Australia says Israel did not deliberately kill foreign aid workers in Gaza
Updated 02 August 2024
Reuters
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Australia says Israel did not deliberately kill foreign aid workers in Gaza

Australia says Israel did not deliberately kill foreign aid workers in Gaza
  • Three Israeli air strikes hit the convoy of aid vehicles traveling through Gaza on April 1
  • The killings drew widespread condemnation from Israel’s allies and accusations that Israel had deliberately targeted the air workers
Updated 02 August 2024
Reuters

SYDNEY: Israeli air strikes that killed international aid workers in Gaza in April were the result of serious operational failures but were not intentional, according to a Australian government review of the incident released on Friday.
Three Israeli air strikes hit the convoy of aid vehicles traveling through Gaza on April 1, killing seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) staff. The dead included Palestinians and citizens of Australia, Britain and Poland.
The killings drew widespread condemnation from Israel’s allies and accusations that Israel had deliberately targeted the air workers, a claim it rejected.
An Australian review into the deaths said the Israel Defense Force (IDF) decided to launch missiles at the convoy after mistakenly believing it was being hijacked by Hamas fighters, who were in fact locally-contracted security guards.
In addition, information about the WCK convoy’s movements had not reached the IDF team behind the strike, it said. This confusion was compounded because Israeli officials could not directly communicate with the aid convoy, the review added.
IDF staff also violated standard procedures in ordering the second and third strikes on the convoy without carrying out another identification process, it said.
“In this incident, it appears that the IDF controls failed, leading to errors in decision making and a misidentification, likely compounded by a level of confirmation bias,” according to Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin, who traveled to Israel to investigate the deaths.
“Based on the information available to me, it is my assessment that the IDF strike on the WCK aid workers was not knowingly or deliberately directed against the WCK.”
Israel’s investigation into the deaths had been “timely, appropriate and, with some exceptions, sufficient,” he said.
The IDF has previously called the incident a grave mistake and dismissed two senior commanders involved in the strikes. Three other commanders were formally reprimanded.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong called on the Israeli government to apologize and said Australia wanted those accountable to be held responsible, including criminal charges if appropriate.
Wong said she had written to her Israeli counterpart calling for greater protection for humanitarian workers.
“This is not an isolated incident,” she said.
“We have seen 250 aid workers killed during this conflict and we have also seen recent events where UN vehicles have been fired upon and it is clear that more needs to be done.”

Topics: War on Gaza Australia Israel World Central Kitchen Gaza

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Famine officially declared in Sudan

Famine officially declared in Sudan
Updated 01 August 2024
Arab News
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Famine officially declared in Sudan

Famine officially declared in Sudan
Updated 01 August 2024
Arab News

JEDDAH: The civil war in Sudan and restrictions on aid have caused famine in North Darfur, food security experts said on Thursday.
The finding, linked to an internationally recognized standard known as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, is only the third time a famine determination has been made since the system was set up 20 years ago.
It shows how starvation and disease are taking a deadly toll in Sudan, where more than 15 months of war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have created the world’s biggest internal displacement crisis and left 25 million people — half the population — in urgent need of humanitarian aid.
An official review committee found there was acute malnutrition and deaths meeting famine criteria in the Zamzam camp, which houses 500,000 displaced people. Paramilitaries are besieging the area and no aid has reached the camp for months.

The Islamic Relief charity said rising numbers of children needed treatment in clinics across Sudan. “It is not too late for them, but time is running out,” it said. Some victims have been forced to eat leaves and soil, and satellite imagery showed cemeteries expanding fast as starvation and disease spread.

Topics: Sudan Unrest

Supporters say Iranian Nobel winner’s health deteriorating in prison

Supporters say Iranian Nobel winner’s health deteriorating in prison
Updated 01 August 2024
AFP
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Supporters say Iranian Nobel winner’s health deteriorating in prison

Supporters say Iranian Nobel winner’s health deteriorating in prison
  • Rights activist Narges Mohammedi, 52, has been jailed since November 2021, and has spent much of the past decade in and out of prison
Updated 01 August 2024
AFP

PARIS: The health of jailed Iranian Nobel laureate Narges Mohammedi has deteriorated in prison, supporters said Thursday, demanding her freedom and calling to give her access to medical care “without delay.”

Rights activist Mohammedi, 52, has been jailed since November 2021, and has spent much of the past decade in and out of prison.

A group of supporters of Mohammedi, who in 2023 won the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her advocacy work, said they had been informed of the results of medical tests carried out last month “which showed a worrying deterioration of her health.”

“The Free Narges Coalition is extremely worried about the deterioration of Narges Mohammadi’s health in detention,” the group said in a statement, noting cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and other risks.

Mohammedi, who is held in Tehran’s Evin Prison, should be released “immediately” and have access to medical care “without delay,” the coalition added.

In the past eight months, Mohammedi has been suffering from acute back and knee pain, including a herniated spinal disc, the supporters said.

Mohammedi has kept campaigning even behind bars and strongly supported the protests that erupted across Iran following the September 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini who had been arrested for allegedly violating the Islamic republic’s strict dress rules for women.

In recent weeks, Mohammedi and other women held with her at Evin have staged protests in the prison yard against death sentences handed to two Iranian Kurdish activists, Pakhshan Azizi and Sharifeh Mohammedi who were tried for membership of an illegal armed group.

Narges Mohammedi in June received a new one-year prison term for “propaganda against the state,” on top of a litany of other verdicts that already amounted to 12 years and three months of imprisonment, 154 lashes, two years of exile and various social and political restrictions.

Topics: Iran Nobel Prize

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Turkiye blocks NATO-Israel cooperation over Gaza war

Turkiye blocks NATO-Israel cooperation over Gaza war
Updated 01 August 2024
Reuters
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Turkiye blocks NATO-Israel cooperation over Gaza war

Turkiye blocks NATO-Israel cooperation over Gaza war
  • Ankara ‘will not allow Israel to continue its interaction with NATO until there is an end to the conflict,’ source says
Updated 01 August 2024
Reuters

ANKARA: Turkiye has blocked cooperation between NATO and Israel since October because of the war in Gaza and said the alliance should not engage with Israel as a partner until there is an end to the conflict, sources familiar with the process said.

Israel carries the status of NATO partner and has fostered close relations with the military alliance and some of its members, notably its biggest ally the US.

Prior to Israel’s offensive in Gaza — prompted by Hamas’ Oct. 7 rampage — NATO member Turkiye had been working to mend its long-strained ties with Israel.

Since then, Ankara has been fiercely critical of Israel’s operation in Gaza, which it says amounts to a genocide, and has halted all bilateral trade. 

It has also slammed many Western allies for their support of Israel.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the sources said Turkiye had vetoed all NATO engagement with Israel since October, including joint meetings and exercises, viewing Israel’s “massacre” of Palestinians in Gaza as a violation of NATO’s founding principles.

A UN inquiry in June found that both Israel and Hamas had committed war crimes in the early stages of the Gaza war. 

It said Israel’s actions constituted crimes against humanity because of the immense civilian losses. Israel rejects this and says its operation in Gaza, which has killed nearly 40,000 people, aims to eradicate Hamas.

The sources said Turkiye would maintain this block and not allow Israel to continue or advance its interaction with NATO until there was an end to the conflict, as it believes Israel’s actions in Gaza violate international law and universal human rights.

After a NATO summit in Washington in July, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it was not possible for NATO to continue its partnership with the Israeli administration.

Earlier this week, Israel’s foreign minister urged the alliance to expel Turkiye after Erdogan appeared to threaten to enter Israel, as it had Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh in the past. 

Erdogan has condemned the “perfidious assassination” in Tehran of his close ally and “brother” Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas.

“May God have mercy on my brother Ismail Haniyeh, fallen in martyrdom after this odious attack,” Erdogan wrote on the X social media platform, denouncing “Zionist barbarity.”

“This shameful act aims to sabotage the Palestinian cause, the glorious Gazan resistance and our Palestinian brothers’ just fight, and to intimidate Palestinians,” Erdogan added.

Thousands of protesters marched after evening prayers in Istanbul to condemn the killing, many waving Turkish and Palestinian flags and chanting slogans hostile to Israel, while an Israeli flag was burned.

“I am here because Israel martyred the representative of the Palestinian people,” said 44-year-old demonstrator Mehmet.

“The great powers have an important role to play. If they don’t prevent these massacres ... history will accuse us of looking on.”

Topics: Turkiye Israel Palestine NATO

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